Malta men’s basketball national team crush San Marino to reach Championship for Small States final

The Malta men’s basketball national team will be vying for gold on Sunday as they strolled into the final of the FIBA Europe Championship for Small States.

The men’s selection, under the charge of Paul Ferrante, maintained their unbeaten run in the competition when they breezed past San Marino 99-60 in the semi-final at the Tercentenary Sports Hall in Gibraltar.

Jordan Tucker was Malta’s leading scorer with 28 points.

The men’s team seized early control of the match, and from then on, they never looked back.

The first quarter was quite balanced, with the Maltese players taking an important four-point lead into the second session, 18-14.

San Marino tried to turn the game around in the second session and managed to take a slender 27-26 lead with just over four minutes to go.

But it was here that the Maltese clicked into gear, as inspired by Jordan Tucker and Matthew Gouder, they surged clear to head into the half-time interval with a healthy ten-point advantage, 41-31.

In the third quarter, the Maltese looked to administer their advantage and their consistent scoring enabled them to further increase their advantage to 13 points, with one session to go – 65-52.

San Marino seemed to run out of steam in the final quarter as the Maltese players run riot to secure a commanding 99-60 victory.

In Sunday’s final, Ferrante’s boys will be up against Andorra who hammered hosts Gibraltar 91-42.